Spindle for loom-shuttles.



H. L. LITCHFIELD. SPINDLE FOR LOOM SHUTTLES.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6, 1910.

Patented Sept. 20, 1910.

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tles, of which the following HERBERT L. LITCHFIELD, OF SOUTHBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

SPINDLE FOR LOOM-SHUTTLES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Sept". 20, 1910.

Application filed January 6, 1910. Serial No. 536,682.

To all whom 'it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERBERT L. Lrrcir- FIELD, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Southbridge, county of VVorcester, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Spindles for Loom-Shutdescription, in connection with the accompanying drawing, is a specification, like characters on the drawing representing like parts.

This invention relates to spindles for l loom shuttles of the type wherein the spindle is detachably held 1n place in the shuttle, the spindle being detached from the shuttle when a yarn-carrier or bobbin is to be applied to or removed from the spindle. Ordinarily such spindles, particularly when they are to be used with worsted bobbins, are provided with a rigidly attached disk-like cap at the tip end, to retain the yarn-carrier thereon.

Worsted bobbins are made in various lengths and with bores of different diameters, and it will be obvious that a four-inch bobbin cannot be used on a shuttle spindle long enough for a bobbin six or more inches long, and vice versa. A great many mills buy their yarn from other concerns, and it is delivered on bobbins of different lengths, so that in a single lot of yarn delivered to a mill there may be as many as three or four, or even more, sizes of bobbins. This necessitates the use of a set of graduated shuttle spindles to accommodate the different bobbins, and is not only a great nuisance but it is an item of very considerable expense to the mill, to say nothing of the annoyance of having to change the shuttle spindle whenever the length of a set of bobbins makes it necessary.

My present invention has for its object the production of a detachable shuttle spindle so constructed and arranged that it can be quickly and easily adjusted to accommodate a yarn-carrier or bobbin of any ordinary length.

By means of my novel spindle the expense, trouble and annoyance now experienced with graded spindles are obviated entirely, as each shuttle requires but one spindle, and whether the Vbobbins are long or short, of large or small bore, they will be sustained properly by the spindle.

In accordance with my invention the body of the spindle is provided with a longitudinally adjust. ble stop which cooperates with Y screwthreaded at 4.- for a and positions the tip of the yarn-carrier, and in order to maintain the stop in any desired adjusted position I have provided simple locking means therefor. I have also provided an adjustable and removable guide for the butt of the yarn-carrier, to position it laterally on the spindle, the removability of the guide enabling the guide to be changed for a larger or smaller one when required by the bore of the yarn-carrier, or it can be removed altogether if, as is sometimes the case, the bore is just large enough to receive the spindle. As there is a tendency for the yarn to foul the free end of the spindle when very short bobbins are used I have provided a detachable guard for the tip end of the spindle, which prevents the yarn from wrapping around it.

The various novel features of my invention will be fully described in the subjoined specification and particularly pointed out in the following claims.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a well known form of loom shuttle provided with a spindle embodying one form of my invention, the spindle being shown as turned up out of the bobbin-recess in the shuttle; Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the shuttle with the spindle swung down into the bobbin-recess, and I have shown in section a yarncarrier or bobbin of medium length on the spindle; Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of the spindle body, with the adjustable stop, locking device, butt-guide and guard shown in section.

The shuttle A, having a bobbin-recess B and delivery-eye C, is a common form of hand-threading shuttle, the body thereof being provided with a pivoted and spring-controlled head I) of usual construction, socketed to receive and detachably hold the end of the spindle.

In accordance with my present invention the elongated body 1 of the spindle, provided at its base 1x with notches 2, 3, Fig. 3, to cooperate with the socketed head D in usual manner, has its outer end externally considerable portion of its length, from its tip toward the base. The body of the spindle is made of maximum length for a given size of shuttle,

and the threaded portion 4 occupies so much said body as to accommodate yarn-carr1crs of different lengths, from long to very short ones. Upon the threaded part I mount a longitudinally adjustable posiof the length of tioning member or stop, herein shown as a circular or disk-like cap 5 and an elongated, externally cylindrical sleeve-like extension G internally threaded to engage the threaded part 4 of 'the spindle body. The inner end of the extension is preferably rounded, as shown, to readily enter the bore E of the yarn-carrier or bobbin E, Fig. 2, at the tip thereof, the projecting flat face of the cap 5 engaging the end of the yarn-carrier, so that the tip thereof is positioned both laterally and longitudinally with relation to the body of the spindle. By rotating the member 5, 6 in one direction or the other it is moved longitudinally along the spindle body to the proper position thereon for coperation with a yarn-carrier of any given length, long or short, and in order to maintain the adjustment I have provided a locking device, such as a lock-nut 7, which is set up on the threaded part 4 against the outer face of the cap 5.

The part of the extension 6 adjacent the cap is preferably squared, as at 8, to be engaged by a suitable wrench and held when the locking nut 7 is set up. The external diameter of the extension 6 is such that it will readily enter the average bore of a bobbin, for ordinarily there is not a great deal of variation in the bores at the tip end. When longer bobbins are used the positioning member is so near the tip of the spindle body that the cap 5 serves as a guard for the yarn, preventing the same from fouling the spindle, but when short bobbins are being used I prefer to apply to the body, between its `tip and the positioning member, a removable and adjustable guard, shown as a threaded nut 9 having a flat, circular base l0. When this guard is used, as shown in Fig. 2, the yarn will travel around the edge of the base l() and will thereby be held away from the threaded part 4 of the body beyond the positioning member or stop, as will be apparent.

It will be understood that the bobbin is applied to or removed from the spindle over the base lX thereof, in the usual manner, and herein I have provided an adjustable and removable guide for the butt of the bobbin, such guide being shown as an internally threaded sleeve 1l, which is screwed onto the threaded part l2 at the inner end of the base 1X, the guide being slabbed off at 13 so that it can be readily rotated if it sticks or binds. This guide enters the bore at the butt of the yarnreceiver E, Fig. 2, and positions the same laterally, and it can be adjusted longitudinally when necessary, or it can be removed altogether if a lot of bobbins are found with the bore so small at the butt as to prevent' In that case the base to position the butt the use of the guide. of the spindle serves laterally.

'In practice the guide will be made to lit the average diameter of bore at the butt, but if desired two or more guides of diferent external diameter can be furnished with each spindle, and the tip-positioning member or stop can also be furnished in sets, these parts being made at a very low cost. Thus a shuttle equipped with my improved spindle is capable of use with bobbins of various lengths and different sizes of bore, the only requisite being that the bore is of sucient diameter to receive the spindle body.

ticular type of detachable connection between the spindle and the sustaining head in the shuttle, and various changes or modifications in details of construction and arrangement may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention as set forth in the claims annexed hereto. p

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to ysecure by Letters Patent is zl. A spindle for loom shuttles, comprising a body externally threaded from its outer end for a portion of its length and adapted to extend through the bore of a bobbin and project beyond its tip, a stop internally threaded to screw onto the threaded part of the spindle body and having a portion to enter the bore of yand laterally position the tip end of the bobbin and having a laterally extended portion to abut against the tip of the bobbin, and a device to lock the stop in xed position at any point of the threaded portion of the spindle body.

a body adapted to extend through and sustain a yarn-carrier, a positioning member longitudinally adjustable thereon, comprising a laterally extended cap to engage and serve as a stop for the tip end of the yarncarrier and an extension ixedly and permanently attached to the cap and adapted to enter the bore of the yarn-carrier at its tip and position the same laterally, and means on the spindle body between its outer end and said positioning member to lock the latter fixedly in adjusted position at different points on the spindle body.

3. A detachable spindle for loom-shuttles, having a longitudinally adjustable stop thereon to engage and position the tip of a yarn-carrier, means to lock the stop in adjusted position on the spindle, and a remov able guide on the spindle to cooperate with the bore at the butt of the yarn-carrier and position. it laterally.

4;. A detachable spindle for loom shuttles, comprising an elongated body, a longitudinally adjustable stop thereon to engage and position the tip of a yarn-carrier on the body, means to fixedly connect the stop with the spindle body at a point thereon My invention is not restricted to any par- 2. A spindle for loom shuttles, comprising deterand a disk-like guard independent of the stop and mounted directly on the spindle body beyond the stop.

5. A detachable spindle for loom shuttles, comprising an elongated body, a longitudinally adjustable stop thereon to engage and position the tip of a yarn-carrier on the body, and a longitudinally adjustable, removable guide on said body to enter and laterally position the butt of the yarn-carrier.

6. The combination With a loom shuttle having a iVotally-mounted, soeketed head, of a bobbin spindle adapted to be detach- L mined by the length of the yarnearrier,\

name to this specification, of two Subserlbing Witnesses.

ably held in said head, a longitudinally adjustable Stop on the spindle, with the tip of and position thereon, means to lock the stop in adjusted position, and a butteguide removably mount- 20 ed on the spindle to enter and position laterally the butt of the bobbin thereon.

to cooperate the bobbin In testimony whereof, I have slgned my 1n the presence HERBERT L. LITCHFIELD.

lVitnesses:

ALVA L. HYDE, WILLIAM P. WIMPTON. 

